State releases Titan draft air permit

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- The North Carolina Division of Air Quality has released a draft air permit for the planned Titan America cement plant in Castle Hayne.

Division of Air Quality spokesman Tom Mather says the draft permit is a preliminary permit for public review and comment. He says the Division of Air Quality will hold public hearings on the permit. Mather says they will likely be held in late September or early October.

Titan America first announced plans in 2008 to build the Carolinas Cement Company facility at the site of an old cement plant along the Northeast Cape Fear River. Opponents have argued the plant would release dangerous levels of pollutants, including mercury. The company has responded by saying it will meet any and all regulations.

DAQ held public hearings on a previous draft permit for the facility in September 2009, but the processing of the application was placed on hold as a result of a court decision. The court determined that Titan would need to conduct a full environmental impact study before receiving any permits because it planned to accept state and local economic incentives. The company later declined the incentives and processing of the application resumed in January 2011.

Since the previous draft permit, the US Environmental Protection Agency has adopted more stringent limits on a number of air pollutants that would be emitted by the facility. The new draft permit would require the facility to meet new EPA regulations for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, greenhouse gases, mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.

Under the draft air permit, Carolinas Cement is required to comply with current state and federal rules for controlling carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, visible emissions, volatile organic compounds, greenhouse gases, mercury and other hazardous air pollutants. The plant must use state-of-the-art air pollution control devices, including bag filters, a scrubber, selective non-catalytic reduction system and lime injection. Other permit conditions require the facility operators to:

•Monitor and inspect air pollution control equipment on a set schedule;

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There is no question the area needs jobs badly. If Titan is required to comply with the conditions of their operating permit, then what's the problem? The resistance of the environmentalists, who spread fear about about the effect of trace emissions, is causing our entire nation to stall economically.

And not those corrupt Wall Street bankers who caused the collapse of the housing bubble and brought our economy to the brink. Right, we believe that.

It's a simple thing really. We live in a beautiful place. The natural beauty of the Cape Fear region is its primary asset, and tourism is far and away the #1 industry. And you want to ruin that for a handful of blue collar jobs? That makes no economic sense whatsoever.

The Titan Cement plant will not make a dent in the local unemployment rate. It will add 400-foot-tall smokestacks to the skyline and dump mercury into the air and water for decades to come.

Sure, we need jobs. We need smarter, cleaner, higher paying 21st century jobs, not 19th century ones. Can we all please be smart about this?

...but far too many people in this area have educations and intellects that don't qualify them for these "fancy, green, 21st Century jobs" about which you people keep fantasizing. They also don't have the experience or wardrobe for office work.

If you think that we can thrive while only attracting white-collar jobs that don't pollute, you're fooling yourself. We need a mix of all industries, and that includes those who will employ common laborers....

Yeah. Go Titan. They should be allowed. They follow the rules, build on a current cement plant grounds. We need the business.
I asked Julia, who would leave if Titan came to town and she never responded. Humm, if you don't like it leave. Same people that build a house next to the airport then complain about the noise. The sky is not falling. GO TITAN. YES IN MY BACK YARD, I WANT YOU HERE.

"We" do not want Titan here. The jobs they would bring are not worth the environmental damage that would result. Try thinking of all the people of the area and not a few that would find jobs at the expense of everyone. If "we" wanted Titan, every elected official that has supported them so far would have been re-elected instead of booted out of office.

Well, I for one do not want Titan here. You suggest that they will be creating jobs. Fair enough. How many? The economic outlook for cement has dimmed considerably.
See this:http://www.cement.org/econ/
US FORECAST SUMMER 2011
"Economic data released since the last forecast paints a consistent picture of an economic growth slowdown -- again. As a result, the outlook for cement consumption during 2011-2013 has also been reduced. Even with these adjustments, significant government policy risks surround the forecast."

In a slowing business/building environment, I would expect Titan to be relocating its current/trained personnel from other plants to Wilmington rather than hiring NEW employees from here who would have to be trained. I'd expect that the new hires won't actually be from around here. I'd love an update on the local hiring expectations from Titan. Further, I'd expect that the upper management (read: higher paying) positions have an even higher likelihood of being from out of town.

Also, does anyone have an estimate on the dollar amount of annual taxes that Titan will be bringing to New Hanover County (If they are successful in locating here)?